Theodore of Mopsuestia. A Preface to the Commentary on the Book of Prophet Jonah

A translation from Ancient Greek and introduction by priest Boris Timofeev

Abstract

The article presents a Russian translation of the Preface to the commentary on the Book of Prophet Jonah by the famous fourth century exegete Theodore of Mopsuestia. The text is preceded by a commentary where it is argued that the author is an original exegete committed to the typological method of reading the Holy Scripture. The main point of the Preface is to justify all the subsequent typological methods that Theodore uses for interpreting the books of the Holy Scripture. The Prophets’ books, like all the Old Testament events, are seen through the prism of typology, and are interpreted as shadows and prototypes predicting Christ the Saviour.